The first day of Esports World Cup 2025 playoffs is over, with four teams eliminated from the competition and four moving on to the semifinals. FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #1 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #1 PatMen Patrick Mendoza Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov swept their opponents to secure a rematch of their grand finals matchup at Masters Toronto, while Gen.G Gen.G Korea Rank #1 Foxy9 Jung Jae-sung (정재성) Ash Ha Hyun-cheol (하현철) t3xture Kim Na-ra (김나라) Munchkin Byeon Sang-beom (변상범) Suggest Seo Jae-young (서재영) Karon Kim Won-tae (김원태) and Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #2 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius won to rematch their Masters Shanghai matchup in the semis.

FNATIC retains regional dominance over Karmine Corp

This regional matchup between a top team and one looking to return to top form began on Sunset, with FNATIC running a double Duelist of kaajak on Yoru and Alfajer on Neon. Karmine Corp Karmine Corp Europe Rank #9 saadhak Matias Delipetro Avez Hazem Khaled Elite Efe Teber SUYGETSU Dmitry Ilyushin marteen Martin Pátek ran their unique variation with Phoenix, an agent that saadhak traditionally loves to throw in as a pocket pick on maps like Ascent and now Sunset. It started great, with KC winning the pistol and converting the bonus. However, FNATIC were able to win the round after preventing a first-half snowball, and rescuing the half by only ending down 7-5.

Even as KC won the second pistol on Sunset, FNATIC showed the tenacity that kept them in the running at Masters Toronto. FNATIC were down 11-6, but managed a comeback to force the game to overtime thanks to both kaajak and Chronicle . It seemed like the comeback was too much for KC to handle, as FNATIC won their first two overtime rounds to end Sunset 14-12 and take the series lead.

The first map was a collapse from KC, but they had to forget it quickly to win Ascent and extend the series. With that in mind, they made a bold decision to run a composition with no Sentinel, instead opting for double Controller with Astra. FNATIC matched that with their double Sentinel with Alfajer on Chamber, and despite losing the first pistol, were able to hold out on the defense side to at least keep a 7-5 lead at the half. A strong attack side for KC, but without a Sentinel, the defense side wasn't nearly as strong in theory.

When FNATIC won pistol, even two rounds wins from KC did not change the strategy. Their attack took advantage of that lack of Sentinel, as both Chronicle and Alfajer stepped up to end the FNATIC attack side with 13 kills each. FNATIC closed out Ascent 13-7, sweeping Karmine Corp and eliminating them from the EWC.

Paper Rex speedruns Sentinels through EWC

To start this series between two of the most popular teams in Valorant, we had Icebox. This marked the return of Jinggg on Omen, while something stayed on his signature Jett. As for Sentinels Sentinels North America Rank #4 N4RRATE Marshall Massey bang Sean Bezerra Zellsis Jordan Montemurro zekken Zachary Patrone johnqt Mohamed Amine Ouarid , despite running the same composition, Paper Rex showed exactly why they won Masters Toronto by winning pistol and bonus to put all the pressure on Sentinels to bounce back immediately. Leading the way on the defense side was PatMen , who stood out on Viper to prevent post-plants from Sentinels as well as frag with 13 kills to put Paper Rex at a 9-3 lead at the half.

Then, on the attack side, Paper Rex once again won pistol and bonus to quickly end the map 13-3, with Jinggg leading the way with a quick 6/2/1 statline in four rounds to take the series lead.

That put Sentinels in need of a win on Sunset, but Paper Rex moved Jinggg back on his signature Raze. Even with more comfortable picks coming from the Sentinels team as well, including zekken on Neon, N4RRATE on Fade, and Zellsis on Cypher, Paper Rex used their fast pace and experience from Toronto to win pistol and take the early lead. Even with something moving to Sova, he still lead his team with 11 kills to end the first half with an 8-4 lead.

It was all on Sentinels to win the second pistol, and they did thanks to zekken clearing out most of A site mixed with some good utility.

Sentinels were able to make a small run off of that, not converting the bonus but still winning five of the first six attack rounds, tying the game at 9-9. However, as Paper Rex took the lead once again, Jinggg used the enemy Cypher cage against them to get three kills down 4v5 and effectively end the hopes of Sentinels. Paper Rex won Sunset 13-9, completing the sweep and eliminating Sentinels from the EWC.

Gen.G sweeps NRG out of Riyadh

Sunset was the start of this series, and while both teams ran Neon compositions, Gen.G opted for Deadlock and Sova while NRG NRG North America Rank #3 s0m Sam Oh brawk Brock Somerhalder mada Adam Pampuch skuba Logan Jenkins Ethan Ethan Arnold ran Breach and Cypher. After winning the pistol, NRG struggled on the attack against the setups from Gen.G, as well as the aggressive pushes from t3xture that often ended in his favor. As Gen.G built a 7-5 lead, t3xture ended the half with 3 first kills to only one first death, as well as 14 overall kills.

The second half showed what looked like two entirely different teams, as Gen.G were quick to extend their lead with a pistol win and convert the bonus to take the map out of the reach of NRG. Munchkin was the leader in both calls and kills on the attack side, ending the half at 10/2/1 as Gen.G quickly finished Sunset 13-6 to take the series lead and put the pressure on NRG.

The next map was Icebox, a map that Gen.G was comfortable on. Even after winning the pistol round, Gen.G was quick to fight back to tie the game. Then, when it came down to which team would end the first half in the lead, it was Foxy9 on Killjoy that stepped up on the attack side to end the first half up 7-5.

After the half, Gen.G won the pistol but lost to a force buy from NRG to make the defending side tense. The rounds went back and forth, but with their slight lead, it favored Gen.G as they were the first team to win successive rounds to reach series point. Then, Ash and Karon defended A site and ended the map 13-10, sweeping NRG 2-0 and eliminating them from the EWC.

Team Heretics stomps BBL Esports

The series began on Ascent, with Heretics bringing out something that the VCT has not seen since Masters Shanghai: Wo0t on Jett frying his opponents. Heretics ran double Duelist with MiniBoo on Yoru as well, getting the first pistol and using that momentum to run away with a map that normally is tough to attack on. The highlight of the half was Wo0t as a player, as he ran over BBL Esports BBL Esports Europe Rank #3 Jamppi Elias Olkkonen sociablEE Volkan Yonal PROFEK Dawid Święć LewN Burak Alkan MAGNUM Martin Penkov and ended the first half with a statline of 19/8/3, 303 ADR, and a perfect 5 first kills to zero first deaths.

That took Heretics to the half up 9-3, but they were flawless on the defense half to end map one quickly at 13-4.

Next up was Haven, and it started exactly how the previous map ended off: Heretics domination with double Duelist. This time, Wo0t moved to Iso as Heretics won the first pistol and stretched to a 6-0 lead. Even as the stream faced audio issues leading to no sound for viewers partway through the first half, the visuals showed nothing but Heretics rolling over and through BBL.

It took some immaculate rounds from LewN to collect a few rounds for BBL, as Heretics reached the half up 9-3.

There was a two-hour tech pause to end that first half, but Heretics won the second pistol with Wo0t and RieNs halting a B site hit. The rest of the half was decisive, as Heretics won 13-5 and swept the series to eliminate BBL Esports from the EWC.

This means the official semifinals for the EWC are:

• FNATIC vs. Paper Rex
• Gen.G vs. Team Heretics